468 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



as the normal condition of man, and happiness as the reward of a self- 

 abhorring suppression of all natural desires and of a blind confidence 

 in the efficacy of an abnormal and mysterious remedy nay, who de- 

 spise Earth herself as a " vale of tears," and life as a dis'ease whose 

 only cure is death, whose only anodyne a dream of a supernatural 

 elysium. It is time to awake from that dream. It is time to oj^en 

 our eyes to the well-springs of life and happiness which the bounty of 

 our Mother Earth sends forth in such abundance, and which man might 

 enjoy Avith all his fellow-creatures if his perversity had not turned 

 them into sources of misery and death. Instead of insulting our 

 Maker by the doctrine of innate depravity, we should learn to distin- 

 guish the voice of our natui'al instincts from the cravings of a morbid 

 appetency. We should try to restore life to its original purity and 

 healthfulness instead of despising it and looking for happiness beyond 

 the grave. 



But the deluge of mediaeval superstitions is fast assuaging, and 

 many a submerged truth has reappeared like a bequest of a former and 

 better world, and now stands as a way-mark on the road to a true 

 Science of Life. We have rediscovered the truth that the weal and 

 woe of earth are not distributed by the caprices of a mysterious Fate, 

 but that they follow as sure effects upon ascertainable causes. Our 

 best thinkers have ceased to doubt that man can work out his own 

 destiny, that the Creator has made us the keepers of our own happiness 

 on conditions which he never violates ; that he has attached pleasure 

 to every right act, and pain to every wrong, that he fulfills the prom- 

 ises of our yearnings, and never permits us to sin unwarned. We have 

 at last begun to realize the fact that the physical laws of God find an 

 echo in the voice of our innate monitor, and only an hereditary mistrust 

 in our instincts makes us still hesitate to commit ourselves to its guid- 

 ance. But experience will overcome that prejudice by and by ; duty 

 and inclination will go hand in hand, and the result will justify our 

 trust in the wisdom and benevolence of Nature. 







HOESES AND THEIR FEET. 



By Sir GEOEGE W. COX. 



IF we say that of all brute animals none is more valuable to man 

 than the horse, and that the neglect of any means which may pro- 

 mote and insure his welfare and efliciency is a blunder not easily dis- 

 tinguishable from crime, we may fairly be charged with uttering 

 truisms. If we urge that this value is not recognized as it should be, 

 and that this neglect is miserably common, Ave may still be accused of 

 wasting breath on statements which no one Avould think of calling into 



